Best First Choice: Handel, Arias

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Here are some of the great features of First Choice: Handel, Arias

First Choice Handel,, In 1997 Bryn Terfel realized a long-standing ambition when he recorded an album of arias from Handel's operas and oratorios with the conductor Sir Charles Mackerras, with whom he had already worked at the time of his professional stage début as Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte in 1990. For a bass-baritone to record arias by "il caro Sassone" remains the exception rather than the rule, even though there is nowadays no lack of Handel recordings. In Handel's day the stars of Baroque opera were the prima donnas and castratos, whereas today this repertory is claimed above all by countertenors. While the titular heroes were generally cast with high voices capable of vocal acrobatics, the lower male voices were reserved for gods and elderly kings whose arias were either noble or bellicose in character.

And yet these strict divisions between different voice types do not reflect the musical practices of Handel's own day. On the one hand, the Baroque was innocent of any attempt to divide up voices into soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass, while, on the other hand, Handel adapted his works to suit the performing conditions that obtained at the time. Depending on the singers who were available to him, he would rearrange their parts to reflect their vocal skills, transposing their vocal lines up or down as need be. It was only logical, therefore, that in selecting pieces for the present CD Bryn Terfel did not limit himself to bass arias but also included numbers originally written for different vocal registers, including, for example, the famous aria "Ombra mai fu" from the opera Serse. Sir Charles Mackerras, too, had little time for dogma. And whereas Handel is normally the preserve of early music specialists, Mackerras uses modern instruments, while drawing on the findings of historically informed performance practice, as is clear from his choice of tempi and from his "eloquent" treatment of the articulation markings, a treatment that breathes the spirit of musical rhetoric.

The works selected reflect Handel's whole range of expression as a masterly composer of operas and oratorios. Few other musicians had his ability to retain the strict conventions of Baroque opera while at the same time creating characters who are no mere stereotypes but creatures of flesh and blood. This expressive variety is well suited to a singer like Bryn Terfel, who has always skilfully avoided vocal stereotyping. He finds a suitable voice for every role and sings not only Mozart and Handel but also Verdi and Wagner. His bass-baritone voice always sounds fresh and effortless, from a powerful forte to a delicate piano. And, far more important, he knows what he is singing and thanks to his well-developed sense of drama has the gift to bring out the inner meaning of the words he is singing.

In the aria "Va' tacito e nascosto" from the opera Giulio Cesare, Caesar broods on Ptolemy's treacherous designs to the accompaniment of a solo horn. We enter a completely different sound world with Semele, in which gently rocking string figures create a pastoral setting in which Jupiter transforms his palace into an Arcadia in which the trees afford his beloved Semele their cooling shade. Ruggiero's aria from Alcina is equally pastoral in character, although on this occasion there is an element of wistful melancholy to his singing as he speaks of the beauty of the lovely woods and enchanting flowers, a beauty that will soon fade. A more conciliatory note is struck by the Persian king Xerxes who, walking in his garden, serenades a beautiful plane tree in "Ombra mai fu", one of the composer's most beguiling melodies.

Simon's bellicose air, "Arm, arm, ye brave!", from the oratorio Judas Maccabaeus begins this recital. In it, Simon assures the Israelites that "Almighty Jehovah" will strengthen their hands "in defence of your nation, religion, and laws". A burning desire for vengeance fires the air "Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries" from the ode Alexander's Feast, in which the bass, accompanied by the radiant sounds of a trumpet, tells of the arrival of the Furies with snakes in their hair and flame-flashing eyes. This selection of arias and airs ends with no fewer than three numbers from Handel's most famous oratorio, Messiah. In the bass air "But who may abide the Day of his Coming?", the soloist announces the arrival of the Messenger of the Covenant, a sustained and solemn introduction giving way to rushing coloratura. The following air, "Why do the Nations", likewise reveals its composer as a music dramatist of the first order, once again demanding a display of vocal fireworks from its soloist. "The Trumpet shall sound", finally, tells of the Last Judgement. According to the English tradition the instrument heard on the Day of Judgement is a trumpet, rather than the trombone proverbially found in German-language sources. As before, the festival gleam of the trumpet provides a musical framework for the soloist's magnificent display of vocal pomp and brilliance. In introducing us to Handel's sound worlds, Bryn Terfel seems to hold up a kaleidoscope and to accompany us on a journey through all the regions and emotions of the human soul.

Tristan Wagner